Apparatus for making frieze pile fabrics



NOV. 21 1967 j CRENSHAW ET AL 3,353,568

APPARATUS FOR MAKING ERIEZE FILE FABRICS Filed May '5, 1966 a Sheets-Sheet 1 JAc uAEb HEAb INVENTORS OKE 5. HlCKSand EFTON 0.0AKES ATTORNEYS \Q/ALTER lCRENsHAw Nov. 21, 1987 I CREN'SHAW ET AL 3,353,568

, APPARATUS FORMAKING FRIEZE PILETABRICS Filed May 5, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet '2 INVENTORS'.

. 62 WALTERJEC'EENsHAW Home 5. HICK$ and EFTON O. OAKE-s ATTORNEY$ 0 1967 w. J. CRENSHAW ET AL 3,353,568

APPARATUS FOR MAKING FRIEZE PILE'FABRICS Filed May 5, 1966 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORSZ WALTER lCEENsHAw H0145 S. HlCKSand EFTON O; CAKES W s y MAL ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office 3,353,568 APPARATUS FOR MAKING FRIEZE PILE FABRICS Walter J. Crenshaw, Clemson, Hoke S. Hicks, La France, and Efton O. Oakes, Sandy Springs, S.C., assignors to Riegel Textile Corporation, a corporation of Delaware Filed May 5, 1966, Ser. No. 547,855 3 Claims. (Cl. 13921) This invention relates to an apparatus for making frieze fabrics, such as upholstery, carpet fabrics and the like on a shuttleless loom of the type having reciprocatmg rigid weft-inserting members, commonly known as rapiers, for drawing weft yarns from a stationary supply through the warp sheds during weaving. More particularly, this invention is concerned with the conversion of a loom of this type for weaving frieze pile fabrics thereon.

Conventional frieze weaving looms form two superposed warp sheds through which wefts are inserted by superposed reciprocating shuttles each containing a cop or bobbin of weft thread therein. The top and intermediate warp sheets defining the bottom shed are formed of both ground and pile warps, and the top warp sheet for the upper shed is largely formed of pile yarns only, with the exception of any special selvage warps which may be used in conjunction with the top warp sheet. The picking motions of such conventional frieze weaving looms are necessarily quite complicated, certain parts of them become worn beyond further use in a relatively short period of time and therefore must be replaced quite frequently, and frequent adjustment of the picking motion is required. More importantly, only a few such looms may be properly attended by a single operator because, among other reasons, every time the supply of weft yarn in a shuttle becomes exhausted, the loom stops and the exhausted cop or bobbin must be manually replaced by a filled cop or bobbin, thus reducing production. The weft drawing rapiers and reed of the aforementioned shuttleless loom, on the other hand, are reciprocated by connections with a relatively simple central motion mechanism and include relatively few parts and practically no adjustment once the loom has been set up for operation. Also, the sources of weft yarn for the rapiers may be in the form of large yarn packages so that the loom may operate continuously for very long periods of time without replacing the weft yarn supply.

It is an object of this invention to provide a shuttleless loom adapted for making frieze loop pile fabric from ground warps and pile warps comprising an oscillatable reed, a pair of upper and lower superposed reciprocating weft drawing rapiers movable into and through respective upper and lower warp sheds for engaging and pulling respective upper and lower weft yarns from respective stationary weft supplies through the sheds, a driven central mechanism including a main shaft arranged vertically in the median plane of the loom and operatively connected to said reed and said rapiers for oscillating said reed and reciprocating said rapiers, a first shed forming means for repeatedly forming said lower shed from ground warps, a second shed forming means for repeatedly forming both said upper shed and portions of said lower shed from pile warps, pattern means connected to and operating said shed forming means and being operatively connected to said main shaft of the central mechanism, a plurality of warpwise extending pile wires arranged in alternation with said pile warps and extending over the base fabric being woven and over and beneath which the respective upper and lower rapiers reciprocate, and said reed, rapiers shed forming means and pile wires being operable to weave said base fabric from ground warps and from said lower weft yarns while looping pile warps beneath cer- 3,353,568 Patented Nov. 21, 1967 tain spaced lower weft yarns and over intervening upper weft yarns supported on said pile wires to form pile loops of said pile warps on said base fabric whereby said upper izveft yarns may subsequently be withdrawn from said pile oops.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which- FIGURE 1 is a somewhat schematic plan view of a shuttleless loom converted for weaving frieze fabrics, according to the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a schematic longitudinal vertical sectional view through the loom as it is converted for weaving frieze fabrics;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view of the shed forming means, the reed, the pile wires and the weft-drawing rapiers, showing how the base fabric is woven with the pile warps looped over upper weft yarns supported by the pile wires;

, FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional view through a portion of the fabric adjacent the pile wires of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary view taken substantially along line 5-5 in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged detail of the rear end portions of pile wires;

FIGURE 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view through the fabric as woven; and

FIGURE 8 is a perspective schematic view of the operative drive connections between the common central driving unit and various operating mechanisms of the loom.

The shuttleless loom with which the present invention is associated is of a type known as American IWER Shuttleless Weaving Machine and such as is disclosed in Ancet et al. US. Patents Nos. 2,837,124; 2,960,118; and 2,977,996, for example. conventionally, looms of this type comprise a central circular motion mechanism 10 driven by a motor 10a, which mechanism may be of the type disclosed in said Patent No. 2,837,124, to which reference is made for a detailed disclosure thereof. The central mechanism 10 includes a driven vertical shaft 11 arranged vertically in a median plane of the loom and on which a cam 12 is secured. Cam 12 reciprocates an arm 13 forwardly and rearwardly to oscillate a reed 14 through the medium of a pitman arm 15 and pivoted swords 1511. Such looms are also provided with one or two elongate rigid weft drawing members or rapiers, two of which are employed in this instance and indicated at 16, 17. Rapiers 16, 17 are arranged in superposed relationship and are reciprocated into, through and out of respective warp sheds and in front of reed 14 in timed relation to oscillation of the reed, by connections with the central mechanism 10.

The connections between rapiers 16, 17 and central mechanism 10 may be as shown in said last-named patent and include a lever 20 having its front end pivotally connected to the outer ends of rapiers 16, 17, and having its rear end pivotally connected to a swing lever 21 which extends inwardly and is pivotally connected to the loom frame as at 22 (FIGURE 1). A connecting rod 23 extends from a medial portion of lever 20 to one end of a crank 24 fixed on continuously rotating vertical shaft 11 of central mechanism 10.

A sheet of ground warps W is drawn from a ground warp beam 30 over rolls 31 beneath a guide bar 32 extending transversely of and attached to the frame of the loom adjacent and rearwardly of the heddles to be later described. Pile warps P may be drawn from spools on a creel, not shown, located rearwardly of the loom. As

shown, pile warps P are drawn from pile warp beams 34, 35 suitably supported above the ground warps W. Pile warps P are advanced toward reed 14 by a driven pile warp let-off or feed roll 36 and are held in engagement with roll 36 by suitable idler rolls 37. From the lower idler roll 37, pile warps P extend downwardly and then pass beneath a pair of pile Warp guide rods 40, 41 above ground warps W.

From guide rods 32, 41, warps W, P extend through respective first and second shed forming means (FIG- URES 2 and 3) shown, in this instance, in the form of four harnesses or heddle frames a-d for ground warp W and a plurality of Jacquard heddles e, f, g for pile warps P. Heddle frames a-d and heddles e, f, g are connected to and raised and lowered under control of respective pattern devices 45, 46 operatively connected to the vertical main drive shaft 11 of central mechanism through the medium of a horizontal auxiliary drive or output shaft 11:: of central mechanism 10 and respective sets of sprocket wheels 50, 51; 52, 53; and endless sprocket chains 54, 55 (FIGURE 8). Any desired type of pattern devices may be used. Preferably, pattern device 45 may be in the form of a dobby head and pattern device 46 may be in the form of a Jacquard head. It is important, however, that the range of vertical movement of ground warp heddles ad is such as to form a lower shed L between a bottom layer or sheet of ground warps and an intermediate layer or'sheet of ground warps extending from heddles a-d to the fell of the base fabric F being woven. Also, it is important that the pile warp heddles are selectively moved vertically to three positions including positions in which some pile warps occupy substantially the same levels or horizontal planes as the respective bottom and intermediate ground warps, and in which other pile warps extend as an upper layer or sheet from the fell of the base fabric F to a level well above the intermediate sheet to form an upper warp shed U. Since the manner in which dobby heads and Jacquard heads are adjusted to effect various ranges and/or extents of vertical movement to heddles is well known in the art, a detailed illustration and description of the dobby and Jacquard heads is deemed unnecessary.

As the rapiers 16, 17 reciprocate through the respective sheds U, L, they also pass respectively above and below a plurality of stationary warpwise extending pile wires or gauges 60 arranged in alternation with pile warps P; i.e., a pile wire 60 may be positioned between each adjacent pair of pile warps P. Pile wires 60 overlie and rest upon a portion of base fabric F adjacent the fell thereof, extend rearwardly between corresponding heddles a-g, and through respective stationary upright support members or heddles 61, and are loosely mounted, at their rear ends, on a transverse horizontal gauge support bar 62 connected by fasteners 63 to front pile warp guide rod 41 (FIGURE 6).

At the end of each inward or inactive stroke of weft drawing members 16, 17 through the respective sheds U, L, the free ends of weft drawing members 16, 17 grasp respective weft yarns or filling yarns 16, 17' (FIG- URE 1) from respective yarn packages or other suitable stationary sources of supply 16", 17" located outwardly of and adjacent one side of the sheds being formed so that, upon the succeeding active return or outward stroke of weft drawing members 16, 17, weft yarns 16', 17 are drawn through the respective upper and lower warp sheds U, L, after which reed 14 beats the thus inserted weft yarns against the fell of the fabric F being woven. As is well known, the weft yarns 16', 17' may be severed at the selvages of the fabric being woven following the insertion of the weft yarns through the warp sheds and successive beat-up strokes of reed 14. A suitable weft yarn severing device 66 (FIGURE 1) is provided for severing the end of each weft yarn inserted through the corresponding sheds at a point between the corresponding source of supply and the adjacent side of the sheds or fabric being woven. Such weft severing device may constitute a part of each rapier 16, 17 as disclosed in said Patent No. 2,837,124. Accordingly, a detailed illustration and description of the weft severing device 66 is deemed unnecessary.

Owing to the fact that independent picks of weft 16', 17 are inserted in the respective upper and lower sheds U, L, and the ground warps are largely positioned beneath the level of upper rapier 16, the base fabric F is woven primarily from ground warps W and the lower or ground weft yarns 17, and pile warps P are looped beneath certain spaced ground weft yarns (see FIGURE 4) and over intervening upper or pile-supporting weft yarns 16 supported on pile wires 60. As shown in the right-hand portion of FIGURE 4, portions of the pile yarns P may be interwoven with the base fabric F between adjacent loops, according to the desired pattern. As is usual, Weft yarns 16' are removed from the pile loops after the fabric is woven and removed from the loom. To facilitate removal of the false wefts thus formed of weft yarns 16' from the fabric, a relatively few ground warps may extend through certain Jacquard heddles e, f, g adjacent each side edge of the fabric and the latter heddles may be controlled to interweave said few ground warps with the upper weft yarns 16' only to form relatively narrow selvage ribbons F1 connected to opposite ends of the weft yarns 16' as shown in FIGURE 7. Suitable selvage attachments, not shown, may be provided on the loom to lock the false wefts 16' in engagement with the selvage ribbons F1 and means may be provided for severing the false weft-s 16 adjacent the longitudinal center of the fabric F, as is well known. Thus, the false wefts 16' may be removed manually or on conventional machinery simply by grasping and pulling the selvage ribbons F1 outwardly from opposite side edges of the fabric.

In addition to driving the reed 14, the rapiers 16, 17 and the pattern devices 45, 46, the central mechanism 10 also drives the ground warp beam 30, the pile warp feed roll 36, and a fabric advancing or take-up roll 71 in timed relationship during operation of the loom. The drive for rotating the take-up roll 71 will now be described.

As best shown in FIGURE 8, the substantially horizontally disposed output shaft 11a of central mechanism 10 is connected to a jack shaft 75 by means of sprocket wheels 76, 77 and an endless sprocket chain 78. A bevel gear 81 fixed on jack shaft 75 meshes with a larger bevel gear 82 fixed on a forwardly extending cloth take-up drive shaft 83 which is connected by a train of gears 84 to a gear fixed on take-up roll 71. In order to drive the pile warp feed roll 36 to feed the pile warps P in accordance with the speed at which the fabric F is being woven and the length of pile loops to be formed, it will be observed in FIGURE 8 that jack shaft 75 also has a worm fixed thereon which meshes with a worm gear 96 fixed on the front end of an inclined shaft 97. The rear end of shaft 97 is connected by a suitable train of gears 100 to a gear 101 fixed on one end of pile warp feed roll 36.

In order to drive ground warp beam 30 at the proper speed with respect to the rate at which the fabric F is woven and then taken up by roll 71, one end of ground warp 30 is operatively connected to a conventional ground warp let-off mechanism 105, preferably of the positive feed type such as is shown in Hunts US. Patent No. 2,786,491, to which reference is made for a detailed description thereof by way of example. The input portion of let-off mechanism 105 is connected, as by sprocket wheels 106409 and sprocket chains 111, 112, to the output shaft 11a of central circular motion mechanism 10.

It is thus seen that we have provided an apparatus for weaving frieze fabric utilizing a shuttleless loom having weft drawing members or rapiers 16, 17 which reciprocate into and out of the warp sheds for drawing weft or filling yarns 16, 17' from the weft supplies 16", 17" through the sheds, with means cooperating with the oscillatable reed 14 and the rapiers 16, 17 for forming the frieze loop pile fabric from the ground warps W, the weft or filling yarns 16', 17', and the pile warps P. More specifically, it can be seen that the means cooperating with the reed and rapiers for forming the fabric includes means embodied in the heddles a-g and pattern devices 45, 46 for repeatedly forming upper and lower warp sheds U, L from the ground and pile warps W, P for movement of the respective rapiers 16, 17 therethrough to weave the base fabric F while forming loops of pile yarn P over the pile-wire-supported upper, false, wefts 16', and wherein all the operating components of the loom are operatively connected to an driven by the central motion mechanism 10.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

We claim:

1. A shuttleless loom adapted for making frieze loop pile fabric from ground warps and pile warps comprising an oscillatable reed, a pair of upper and lower superposed reciprocating weft drawing rapiers movable into and through respective upper and lower warp sheds for engaging and pulling respective upper and lower weft yarns from respective stationary weft supplies through the sheds, a driven central mechanism having a main shaft arranged vertically in a median plane of the loom and operatively connected to said reed and said rapiers for oscillating said reed and reciprocating said rapiers, a first shed forming means for repeatedly forming said lower shed from ground warps, a second shed forming means for repeatedly forming both said upper shed and portions of 35 said lower shed from pile warps, separate pattern means connected to and operating each of said shed forming means and being operatively connected to said main shaft, a plurality of warpwise extending pile wires arranged in alternation with said pile warps and extending over the base fabric being Woven and over and beneath which the respective upper and lower rapiers reciprocate, said reed, rapiers, shed forming means and pile wires being operable to weave said base fabric from ground warps and from said lower weft yarns while looping pile warps beneath certain spaced lower weft yarns and over intervening upper weft yarns supported on said pile wires to form pile loops of said pile warps on said base fabric whereby said upper weft yarns subsequently may be withdrawn from said pile loops.

2. A shuttleless loom according to claim 1, wherein said stationary weft supplies are located adjacent one side of the sheds being formed, and means for severing each weft yarn pulled through the sheds at a point adjacent said one side of the sheds and between the same in the corresponding supply.

3. A shuttleless loom according to claim 1, wherein said first and second shed forming means each includes a plurality of relatively vertically movable heddles, the heddles of said first shed forming means having a given range of vertical movement for forming said lower sheds from ground warps, and the heddles of said second shed forming means having two ranges of vertical movement, one of the ranges of vertical movement of the heddles of the second shed forming means corresponding to said given range of vertical movement of the heddles of said first shed forming means, and the other range of movement of the heddles of said second shed forming means being such as to raise corresponding pile yarns a substantial distance above the range of vertical movement of the heddles of said first shed forming means to form said upper shed and portions of said lower shed from corresponding pile warps.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,854,181 4/1932 Erkes et a1 l3921 2,171,367 8/1939 Kaufmann 139-21 2,837,124 6/1958 Ancet et a1. 139l23 FOREIGN PATENTS 267,379 9/1929 Italy.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner. H. TAUDON, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SHUTTLELESS LOOM ADAPTED FOR MAKING FREEZE LOOP PILE FABRIC FROM GROUND WARPS AND PILE WARPS COMPRISING AN OSCILLATABLE REED, A PAIR OF UPPER AND LOWER SUPERPOSED RECIPROCATING WEFT DRAWING RAPIERS MOVABLE INTO AND THROUGH RESPECTIVE UPPER AND LOWER WARP SHEDS FOR ENGAGING AND PULLING RESPECTIVE UPPER AND LOWER WEFT YARNS FROM RESPECTIVE STATIONARY WEFT SUPPLIES THROUGH THE SHEDS, A DRIVEN CENTRAL MECHANISM HAVING A MAIN SHAFT ARRANGED VERTICALLY IN A MEDIAN PLANE OF THE LOOM AND OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID REED AND SAID RAPIERS FOR OSCILLATING SAID REED AND RECIPROCATING SAID RAPIERS, A FIRST SHED FORMING MEANS FOR REPEATEDLY FORMING SAID LOWER SHED FROM GROUND WARPS, A SECOND SHED FORMING MEANS FOR REPEATEDLY FORMING BOTH SAID UPPER SHED AND PORTIONS OF SAID LOWER SHED FROM PILE WARPS, SEPARATE PATTERN MEANS CONNECTED TO AND OPERATING EACH OF SAID SHED FORMING MEANS AND BEING OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID MAIN SHAFT, A PLURALITY OF WARPWISE EXTENDING PILE WIRES ARRANGED IN ALTERNATION WITH SAID PILE WARPS AND EXTENDING OVER THE BASE FABRIC BEING WOVEN AND OVER AND BENEATH WHICH THE RESPECTIVE UPPER AND LOWER RAPIERS RECIPROCATE, SAID REED, RAPIERS, SHED FORMING MEANS AND PILE WIRES BEING OPERABLE TO WEAVE SAID BASE FABRIC FROM GROUND WARPS AND FROM SAID LOWER WEFT YARNS WHILE LOOPING PILE WARPS BENEATH CERTAIN SPACED LOWER WEFT YARNS AND OVER INTERVENING UPPER WEFT YARNS SUPPORTED ON SAID PILE WIRES TO FORM PILE LOOPS OF SAID PILE WARPS ON SAID BASE FABRIC WHEREBY SAID UPPER WEFT YARNS SUBSEQUENTLY MAY BE WITHDRAWN FROM SAID PILE LOOPS. 